i feel naked.
June 9th, 2008I am a self-proclaimed Photoshop whore.
Ever since I started using it back in 2000, I’ve been addicted. But when it comes to my photography, I always try my best to get everything right in camera as much as possible.
Unfortunately sometimes my best isn’t well, the best. And that’s when I have to do some processing tricks to get the photos looking perfect. I use a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop to do my processing and I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend that you try this out if you haven’t yet.
Why? Because Lightroom speeds up your overall processing so much. I consider it “Photoshop for Dummies” — you just slide bars around to achieve the look you want and there’s no complicated masks, layers, and blah blah blah. But the thing is, oftentimes you NEED those complicated layers and masks and things (and really, they’re not so complicated once you get the hang of them).
What happens if everything in a photo is gorgeous and properly exposed, but the dog’s face is not? You take it into Photoshop, create a layer mask, and make the dog’s face looking right while everything else is hidden. Can’t do that in Lightroom.
And what happens if everything else in the photo is perfect except for a piece of trash you forgot to move out of frame before you shot? You take it into Photoshop, do some pixel pushing and remove it. Can’t do that in Lightroom.
The following are a few before + afters of photos I recently processed that needed some extra work. I feel naked showing my “before” photos. Really, really naked. But hey, I think every photo needs a little extra work once it comes out of the camera. And these really demonstrate the great results you can get when you combine the power of Lightroom + Photoshop.
(By the way — I don’t use actions or presets. I’ve tried using them, and they’re just not for me)
Lightroom: Removed yellow color cast, increased overall brightness
Photoshop: Increased brightness of Max’s face
Lightroom: Removed green color cast, added some detail back into the clouds and brought back details in Max’s face
Photoshop: Further exposure correction in Max using layers and masks
Lightroom: Removed yellow/green color cast
Photoshop: Increased saturation and detailing in wood floor; brought back details of Dottie’s face; corrected exposure of Rob and Anne
Lightroom: Fixed white balance, brought out more details in wood floor and railings, added saturation
Photoshop: Added in sky from a separate image; increased details in wood; corrected exposure of Rob and Anne in a separate layer
June 9th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Thanks for posting your naked photos
I guess I should stop being lazy and start using Photoshop to process my photos. I am also a Photoshop whore, although the past year I have been having an affair with Illustrator and am loving it for different reasons. I think I should get back on the Photoshop bandwagon. It’s time to stop being lazy.
oh and btw - Shine Digital is AMAZING. I wish I was that good!
June 9th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Good on you for showing us your naked photos. I think any professional photographer knows that post-processing of images is just as important as the taking of them to make them really Shine (excuse the pun!) When I was just starting out I really appreciated photographers who demonstrated this with before and after shots. Your examples demonstrate what a wonderful handle you have on bringing the best out of your images.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I try as much as possible to get everything right so I only need to to do some quick tone curve adjustments later but yea sometimes that little extra help is always needed. And most of the time I end up haveing to crop away distracting elements
June 9th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
isn’t that funny….i keep thinking of your shots and wondering how i can be so far off. don’t get me wrong–i’m far off, but it’s good to hear you have tricks to make them as perfect as they are.
um…..and they ARE perfect!
June 9th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Awesome post Grace. Thanks for showing us your work ‘naked’.
Oh and LR fans unite!! (ok, photoshop’s ok too).
And I agree with Allison. Your shots are perfect.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Thanks for this post. I’m also a huge photoshop fan, I’m still learning though.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
absolutely {love} your blog and your photos ~ always!
thanks though for posting this.
as a newcomer to this arena, i {really} appreciate seeing these ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots.
personally i use photoshop and since post processing my images, have been {amazed} at the difference they can make.
however i am still learning and sometimes need to know where to draw the line ~ i think i have a tendancy go a little photoshop overboard at times!!!
it is so great to have blogs like this to come to for some constant inspiration.
June 10th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Thanks for sharing. I never heard of Lightroom.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Wow! What a difference! I haven’t been using anything on my photos but I think I’ll start now… your photos are fabulous nekkid… and then some tweaking makes them really pop!
I have Photoshop… I’ll look into Lightroom!
Thanks for sharing!
August 5th, 2008 at 9:19 am
That is so gracious of you to show your “naked” shots!! I love seeing before/afters together!! I love the type of shots you are able to get when exposing for the sky and bringing back the exposure of the dog’s face. I’d love to be able to do this but definitely haven’t felt very successful at it. Do you use curves or levels in particular when working on bringing back details?
Thanks again!
Audrey
August 20th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Audrey — I shoot in RAW format so I can do quite a bit of exposure correction in overly dark or light areas without getting too grainy or noisy. I highly recommend shooting RAW if you get into the situation where you want to expose for the sky but feel like you might have trouble exposing the subject in front of you. Once you get post processing, after you’ve adjusted the image as much as you can RAW, I’d take it into photoshop and create a duplicate later. Set that layer to “SCREEN” and play with the opacity until you get an exposure you like. Mask out the rest of the image (ie: the sky and background) using a layer mask and you should have a better exposed subject!
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 am
Wow. Wow. Wow! I just fell into your web site today and am SO thankful I did! (Jackson’s & Trixie’s [the wonderful dachshunds] mom posted your web site on The Hot Dog Blog today, bless her heart.) I’ve just spent the last 2 hours devouring your photos and reading your blogs. Incredible, wonderful, inspiring, and … well, words fail me. And then you do something so outrageous, I’m stunned all over again — you actually show your “naked” photos and then show how you make really, REALLY good photos into breathtaking photos! I don’t think I’ve ever seen another photographer be so honest and helpful.
Thanks for the inspiration and insight into how I can (hopefully) take my not-so-bad photos to a whole new level. It won’t be anywhere in the vicinity of yours, but it’ll make mine oh-so-much better! THANK YOU.
August 26th, 2010 at 2:16 am
Your blog is amazing and your photos are wow! They give me a lot of inspiration just like Laurie Haldeman said before me.
The only thing I was wondering is how you enhance the eyes of the dogs? Because on every picture they are so bright and sparkling. I love that effect! Any tip perhaps for a beginner?